Corrosion
by BldyMalice
Summary: Raul Sedlak  17, newest recruit to the XAcademy. Starring my oc.  Better than the summary hints.
1. Welcoming

"Mutants?" The tall boy repeated, brushing a strand of black hair from his eyes. 

"That's right, people like you and me, people born with a gene in them that gives them special powers." Jean Grey said, tilting her head. The teen raised his eyebrow as her long red hair shifted around her shoulders. Beside her, the bald man who had introduced himself as Charles Xavier sat in his wheelchair with his fingers pressed together and his elbows on the armrests, watching him with interest.

"So, Raul, have you made your decision concerning the academy?" Professor X spoke from his spot beside Jean, and Raul turned to face him.

"Do you think I could like, take a tour or something to see if I like it? I mean, this can hardly be called a power, so I don't really want to go to some secluded freak school if I really don't have to." The teen brushed hair from his face again, his long, well-manicured black nails catching the light from the open window.

"I think we could arrange that. How about you stay with us for a week and then see if you'd like to return home or not?" The professor replied. Raul nodded.

"Should I go pack my things?" Turning away, Raul Sedlak waited for a nod of confirmation before sprinting up the stairs to gather his things together.

Of course, he had known he was different for quite a while, now. He had figured it out when he had gone to get his blood taken and the blood in the syringe had melted straight through, making the young nurse scream. At eleven he had watched in horror as his own blood dripped through the glass of the syringe and burnt holes deep into the chair where the small ruby droplets had landed. Raul had always been a quick healer, but for some reason after that point his healing had constantly become faster, until it reached the point where if he were to stab a knife through his hand and twist it around now, the wound would heal in a little over a minute.

Sighing, the pale boy yanked open the curtains that cut off his closet from the rest of the room and picked out articles of clothing. He could already hear his mother lecturing him about taking 'flashy' clothing, but he could care less. He'd just grab casual things for every flashy outfit he packed. It only took him a few minutes, since he was only staying for a week. After that point it only took him just shy of ten minutes to scurry around the house gathering random items.

Deciding he was fully packed, Raul slid into the bathroom to examine himself. His older brother Derrick picked on him nearly non-stop because of his slight obsession with his appearance, but it didn't stop him from spending over an hour in front of the mirror every day before school. He ran a brush through his longer fringes and snatched some hairspray, taming the shorter hair that stuck around an inch off the rest of his head into small, messy spikes. He straightened his black long-sleeved shirt over his belt and sighed, but as he turned to leave he stopped to touch a finger to the corner of his right eye affectionately. Unlike his left eye, which was a stormy blue, Raul's right eye was a bright, gold-flecked green. He really needed to get contacts for it.

Sighing again, he examined his hair one more time before scooting out of the bathroom and taking the stairs two at a time.

"-cares a little too much about his appearance, though I've tried to get him out of that several times…" He caught his mother saying as he casually rounded the corner into the living room, his duffel bag slung over one shoulder. He watched Jean laugh politely at his mother's comment and he rolled his eyes dramatically at her on his way by.

"Do not." He said as his mother yanked him into a hug. She smiled and made as if to ruffle his hair, but he had squirmed free and leapt away before she had a chance. She laughed warmly at this. "Not funny." He said dryly as he re-straightened his shirt and scooped his bag up off the floor.

Jean and the Professor had made their way outside and he followed them out. Out of nowhere he was shoved playfully from behind and he stumbled, dropping his bag again. He whipped around to see his older brother Derrick grinning at him from the doorway, his arms wide. Raul refused to budge.

"Think you could sneak away without sayin' bye to me, Brat?" The older boy was tanned and a lot better built that Raul, his chestnut colored hair un-dyed and cut short.

"Well, I tried…" He muttered sarcastically as he hugged his brother goodbye. He bent down to pick up his bag again but stopped and straightened, looking around. Satisfied that no one was going to attack him this time Raul scooped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He turned to face the Professor, who nodded.

A large black van drove around the corner and attempted to take his life. He dodged it rather skillfully, he thought, as Jean opened a door and got in. She held the door open for him, and he handed her his bag. When he got inside he managed to get a good look at the guy who had tried to kill him with his crazy driving.

Jean must have seen him looking, because she smiled and introduced them. "This is another one of the X-men, Scott Summers. Scott, this is our newest student, Raul Sedlak." She turned back to him and shrugged. "Scott gets a little full of himself from time to time, but as long as you respect his car and don't bug him about his shades, he's a pretty cool guy."

Scott grinned at him from behind the wheel. "Glad to have you join us."

The drive to the institute was a fairly long one, but Jean passed the time fast by explaining the basics of life at the academy. It sounded pretty fun, so he listened intently, wondering if he'd fit in easily.

At one point Jean stopped talking and looked out the window, a proud smile playing across her face. "We're here, welcome to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters!" Scott said as he pulled into the driveway of a huge mansion. Raul glued himself to the window as they drove by a group of teenagers playing what appeared to be football, gasping lightly as one of them transformed into a reddish dog and chased after the ball.

Scott pulled into a garage next to a fancy red sports car, and Jean leaned close. "That's his car." She said as she pointed to the sparkling vehicle. He nodded his understanding as he hopped out, holding the door for her. She tossed him his bag and he shouldered it, taking several steps out of the garage and looking around.

"Now," Professor Xavier said as he wheeled towards the door to the mighty building. "Come inside and I'll call everyone here, I'll introduce you."

Raul followed the professor through the large double doors, looking around in awe at the fancy double stairways and huge hanging chandelier. The Professor told him that he was summoning everyone mentally, and Raul folded his arms across his chest. He would never admit it, but he was rather nervous to learn what type of people attended such a strange place.

Raul jumped as he heard a muffled 'Bamf' sound above him, and he looked up to see a boy hanging from the chandelier, small wisps of smoke fading around him. The boy did an odd flip and leapt to the floor in front of him. Brushing his dark blue hair out of his face and grinning, the boy showed off straight white teeth that rivaled his own. Jean and Scott welcomed him one last time before they wandered off up the stairs, talking and laughing with each other.

The boy looked him up and down as another teenager entered the room, this one through the wall to his left. She looked normal enough, with long brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. "Another new Student?" She asked as she took a spot beside the blue-haired boy. Raul kept his silence as he watched the two, wondering why the others were taking so much longer to get here.

"We'll wait for the others to arrive before we begin the introductions." The Professor announced after a moment, waiting patiently.

He was answered by the door at the top of the stairs banging open, a small group of people shuffling through. One of them, a dark-skinned boy on a skateboard, ground down the railing of the stairs and flipped his board into his hand at the bottom, lifting a hand to him. "Yo!" He said warmly, unclipping his helmet. The others hurried down the stairs after him, one of them a very pretty girl with auburn hair and white streaked bangs. He took note of her purple lipstick and decided to compliment her on it later. He heard another person come in from the same doors he and the Professor had entered through, and he turned his head to watch a gruff, blue haired man stroll up to the Professor's chair, a dark skinned woman with long white hair walking with him.

Looking around, the Professor cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is the newest student at the academy, Raul Sedlak." he heard murmurs break out amongst the mutants, and the one directly in front of him, the boy who had appeared on the chandelier, extended his hand.

"Hi!" He said, his voice coated in a soft German accent. "My name is Kurt Wagner. The Professor told me that you're going to be staying in my room."

Raul smiled, "Hey, nice to meet you."

Behind him, the Professor spoke again. "Kurt, take off your image inducer for him."

In response to this the boy, Kurt, clicked a button on his watch and Raul watched with wide eyes as his smooth skin gave away to velvety looking blue fur that coated his entire body. He watched as four fingers dissolved to two, his feet changed to only have two toes each, and a long, slender blue tail flicked out behind him, tipped with a hairless blue barb. Kurt watched him as though judging his response, and he couldn't help but look him up and down several times. However, he found that though the boy looked like some strange pointy-eared demon, his easy smiles wiped away any thought of fear, or even shock. He grabbed Kurt's still-extended hand and shook it warmly; unable to resist brushing his thumb along the other boy's to feel his soft fur. Kurt let go of his hand and shuffled off to the side a bit, making room for the next person to introduce themself.

"Kurt's code name is 'Nightcrawler'. Also, Jean forgot to mention it, but Scott's is 'Cyclops'." The Professor pitched in, smiling at him in a rather fatherly way.

Next, the girl who had walked through the wall stepped forward and extended her hand. Raul took it and shook it lightly, meeting her eyes and watching in amusement as she blushed lightly. "My name is Katherine Pryde." She said with a slight valley girl accent, releasing his hand quickly. "My power is the ability to like, phase through solid objects, like you saw me pass through the wall just now. My code name is 'Shadowcat'."

He smiled at her and nodded. "That must be handy, nice to meet you."

She shuffled aside almost instantly and Raul watched with a slight smirk as the others glanced at each other as though deciding amongst themselves who would go next. The dark skinned boy rolled up on his skateboard and extended his hand as the first two had. "Evan Daniels. Code name Spyke. Welcome to the team, man." He said as he shook Raul's hand, keeping the chat short and moving off to the side.

The rest of them came up one after another, introducing themselves to him. He figured out the pretty girl was called Rogue, and her power was to absorb memories and abilities through skin-to-skin contact. That's why she covered up so much of her skin. He thought that was a shame, though. It must suck not being able to touch anyone. The gruff man turned out to be named Logan, and the white haired woman was named Ororo. When everyone had introduced themselves he paused, then remembered something.

"Oh, hey, I haven't said what my power is yet, have I?" He asked, crossing his arms again. "My blood is corrosive. Oh, and I heal really fast."

A few people commented on how odd that was, and he stood around with them and chatted for around fifteen minutes before the Professor must have decided that he was fitting in find. "Alright, you people have things to get back to?" He said, wheeling himself forward. "Kurt, could you take Raul to your room and get him settled in? I'm putting him into your hands, so I expect you to show him around and help him with anything he needs during his one week stay."

Kitty, as Raul had learned she was called, turned to the Professor and pouted ever so slightly, most likely without realizing it. "He's only staying for a week?" She asked with slight disappointment.

"His power isn't in need of much control, so if he doesn't feel the need to stay here, he can freely leave after his one week stay is over. He is very welcome, and encouraged, to stay if he likes it here, though. I hope that you will all help him fit in."

"Oh." Kitty replied, nodding her understanding. "I really hope you stay, though!"

"Alright, we should get going," Kurt said, placing his two fingered hand on Raul's arm. Raul resisted the strong urge to jerk away and instead managed only a small flinch. Kurt's eyes softened at that, as though he had taken the small action personally, but as Raul opened his mouth to apologize he found himself surrounded in dense nothingness, but the instant the strange sensation had fully washed over him it was gone again. The smell of sulfur filled his senses and he found himself stumbling into Kurt.

Kurt caught him and held his shoulders straight, and Raul blinked at him in confusion. "Sorry about that." The blue mutant said with a small smile. "My power is teleportation, if you couldn't guess. This is your room now."

Raul looked around, and was surprised to see Jean and Scott standing beside a second bed that was pushed against the wall next to a window. "Hey!" Jean said with a big smile. "We brought your bed in here while you were being introduced to everyone." Raul nodded for the bazillionth time that day and watched as the two older mutants let themselves out of the room, closing the door gently behind them.

Walking over to the bed and dropping his bag beside it, Raul flopped down rather inelegantly. Letting his eyelids flutter closed, he sighed heavily and crossed his arms behind his head, twitching slightly to shoo his bangs from his face. The sounds of Kurt moving across the room floated to him, but he couldn't tell what he was doing, until he spoke from much closer than Raul had realized he had moved. "I guess this is a pretty big change for you, but if you want I can show you around now."

Raul barely heard the words and instead focused on the boy's accent. He caught enough key words to piece it together, though, and he opened one eye and focused it on the blue boy.

"Sure, just let me get over this sudden burst of lazy." He mumbled as he shifted and brought his right arm out from under his head and dropped it over his face instead. He watched with half lidded eyes as Kurt moved to sit cross legged on the end of the bed. "I don't know why, but all those introductions must have taken a lot out of me."

"That's understandable, I guess. It took me a while to get settled in here, when I first came. But, that was also because I had never been able to show my face in public." Kurt said as he rested his chin in his hands, his elbow in turn resting on his knee. "Since I look like this, I tend to scare normal people if I don't have my holo-watch activated."

Raul sat up and nodded. "Yeah. I'm assuming the Professor gave it to you? I couldn't imagine having to live my life hiding my face from everyone for fear if their judgment. Must have been super tough. Personally, I think the combination of pointy ears, two digits on the end of each limb and a barbed tail work rather well for you."

Kurt made a small noise that resembled a laugh and looked away, his cheeks darkening in what Raul assumed by his expression was the beginnings of a blush. Raul smirked inwardly. Apparently Kurt wasn't used to being complimented about his appearance.

Stretching, the lean mutant dragged himself off the bed and cracked his wrists with a series of quiet clicks. "Alright." He said to Kurt as he made his way over to the large mirror that sat mounted above the dark wooden dresser. He leaned against the dresser with his palm flat to the surface, his other hand running through his bangs. He furrowed his eyebrows at the seventeen year old that was reflected in the glass. His roots were growing in, and it disgusted him. He murmured to himself about buying more hair dye and smoothed his bangs into place. They almost reached down to his chin, so he decided that it was time for a bit of a make-over. He remembered what he had been doing as he was smoothing his shirt and he saw Kurt moving in the reflection.

"Heh, sorry. So how about we go wander around now, hey?" He smiled as his first mutant friend agreed and led him out the door. For some reason he felt as though he was going to fit in just fine.


	2. Insults and Nailpolish

**Disclaimer **(which was absurdly neglected in the first chapter) **-** Don't own X-Men, and especially don't own Evolution. Sadly, I never will. Raul is mine, though. So hands off.

I submitted this without my wife, Wesa's, encouragement. Amazing, hey? Thanks for the like, four reviews on the first chapter, as well, they were lots of help. I'm glad you guys like Raul, and I apologize for making him such a complete fag, but I found it's the one thing X-Men lacked. I'm also just an appearance-freak lover. You guys ever played Soul Calibur III? Of course you have! Well, it's amazing. I actually went back and started over on SCII. So that's what's been stopping me from writing this as fast as I can possibly manage. Oops. (Love for Siegfried!)

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Kurt turned and touched his arm questioningly, and Raul nodded without hesitation. Again he was swamped by the nothingness for a split second before he stumbled into the kitchen. The smell of dinner assaulted him viciously, mixed with the sulfuric smell that accompanied Kurt's teleportation. The last two hours had been spent walking around the X-mansion with Kurt, listening to him explain the basic ins and outs, much like Jean had on the ride to the institute. He had gotten to see the Danger room, the X-Jet, and they had even walked around the grounds for nearly half an hour. Being shown around had definitely improved his confidence, as they had run into a lot of the people he had been introduced to. He was positive that he would need to be guided around for a while still, though, so he wouldn't get lost.

Kurt took a seat at the table next to Logan and Raul snagged the seat across from him. The long table slowly began to fill up, mutants coming from all over the mansion to gather for the meal. The volume in the room increased drastically as more people came, and he rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes, listening to the chatter.

Someone sat down beside him and he opened his right eye to glance at the visitor. Rogue sat with her hands folded beneath her chin, her eyes looking rather distant. Examining her for a moment, he decided that she must really like green. She wore enough of it.

A small group entered the room at the far left end and he turned his attention over to their loud talk and laughter. Evan was the center of this group, he noticed, with Kitty on one side of him and Kurt 'porting from his seat to the other side as soon as Evan entered the room. Laughing about something that the subject of which he had missed, the two high-fived dramatically and burst into laughter, while Kitty crossed her arms and sighed, looking rather annoyed. She turned slightly and noticed Raul watching, and then rolled her eyes at him almost venomously.

"Can't you children be quieter?" Logan barked roughly, sending the small group a death glare. They instantly quieted and flooded around the table to their seats, though hushed murmurs still passed between them.

When the food arrived it was welcomed by everyone. He watched as Jean brought the platter that held the chicken over, using her powers to make it float in front of her, while several other people rose from their seats to assist with bringing over the meal. Raul noticed the mutants, including Kurt, watching Logan intently. The instant Logan forked a thick slice of chicken and placed it on his plate the table relaxed into casual conversation, helping themselves to the meal. Raul slowly picked his food and fetched it for his plate, deciding to try a bit of everything.

Several main conversations were taking place at the table, and Raul focused his attention on each of them in turn as he ate. Scott was talking with Ororo about something to do with fight simulations. He decided to ignore that one, since it didn't seem very interesting. Logan was talking quietly to the Professor, who sat at the head of the table. At one point Ororo merged the conversation between them. Across from him Kurt was talking loudly with Evan, who was apparently attempting to gross Kitty out with something. He smiled inwardly as he watched the girl shy away from him, her voice rising in slight distress. Jean, who was seated beside kitty, defended her lightly, giving the boy's trouble for bothering her at the table. Another conversation was being held at the end of the table, between the students of the X-Mansion. For a moment Raul wondered why he wasn't down there with them, and was instead seated up with the X-Men, who were the fight power of the institute. He came to the conclusion that it was because he had been introduced to the X-men first, and shared a room with one, so he therefore felt more comfortable around them.

Putting his fork down, Raul rested his cheek against his knuckles. He examined his nails carefully, taking note of several chips that had managed to appear on their glossy surface. He made plans to re-paint those few nails when he got back to his room, though he fully know that if he started he would end up re-doing all of them anyways.

"…Right Raul?" A rather southern-girl voice said beside him, and he jerked his head up, remembering that Rogue was the one in that particular seat.

"What?" He asked, looking from her to Evan then to Kurt as he realized that they had been trying to include him in their conversation. "… Sorry."

Rogue sighed and flicked her hand as she repeated herself, taking the time to make sure he heard her as well as making him look like a complete and utter idiot. "Evan doesn't think that Kurt can say your name. I was agreeing, because he refuses to even try, which means that he obviously can't."

Raul blinked slowly and shrugged, making a split second decision to go for brownie points with Evan, since he was sharing a room with Kurt and was already close to friends with him. "It's not his fault. I mean, with that mixture of heavy accent and fangs, I'm surprised he can say anything in English at all."

Evan choked on the potato he was chewing and burst out laughing, patting Kurt on the shoulder as the blue boy's cheeks flushed a barely noticeable angry purple and he sunk into himself more. Raul regretted his words instantly, but kept his face straight and honest as he finished the food on his plate. He'd just have to be sure to apologize for it before he went to sleep tonight.

He felt Rogue nudge him lightly and he raised his head to turn to her. "That was pretty mean, you know." She said to him quietly, shifted so that she was facing him slightly. He nodded and averted his eyes guiltily, and ended up looking at Kurt, who was silently shoveling down his food, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to get away from the table. Raul instantly looked back at Rogue and shrugged helplessly.

"I needed the points with Evan." He said honestly, and Rogue shook her head slightly, though a small smile played across her dark lips.

"Well, you got them. I'm pretty sure Evan's somewhere near secretly in love with you, now." She replied, sliding her chair back and waving to him as she went to put her plate in the sink and then left the room without looking back.

Raul watched her go and sighed to himself as he copied her actions, though instead of leaving he went to go back to Kurt. He was met halfway there by the blue boy, who refused to look at him.

"Want a ride to my room?" Kurt asked him quietly.

"Err, Y-yeah, thanks." He replied awkwardly, mentally slapping himself for actually stuttering.

Kurt closed his hand around his wrist and Raul somehow managed to fall when he re-entered from the nothingness into the middle of Kurt's room. Kurt watched him with a raised brow as he rolled over to something closer to a sitting position. Raul's face flushed angrily as he noticed Kurt's expression. Great, so apparently he had made a fool of himself.

"Yeah, thanks." He said as he picked himself up off the floor, brushing invisible dirt off his pants and straightening his shirt. He folded his arms and walked over to the large mirror out of habit, running his fingers through his hair and examining his roots again, scowling at the chestnut brown that was starting to show through the black dye.

Raul was slightly surprised when he turned back and Kurt was still there, lounging on his bed with a book open in front of him. He had thought that the blue mutant would have wanted to get away from him, or at least 'ported away to do something else after he had dropped Raul off. He made his way back to his bag and unzipped it, rummaging through his things for a few moments before he found his nail polish and polish remover.

Sighing lightly, Raul flopped down on his bed and rolled onto his stomach, examining his nails carefully.

"Has anyone ever told you that you sigh an awful lot?" Kurt asked from his bed halfway across the room, turning the page and not looking up.

"No one's actually ever said anything about it, I don't think." Raul replied as he began removing the polish from his nails. "But I notice all the time."

It was silent between the two for a few moments while Raul finished stripping the rest of his long nails of their color.

"Makes you sound depressed." Kurt said after the long pause, suddenly 'porting without warning to hang from the light fixture on the ceiling as he continued reading. Raul skillfully ignored his movement and refused to mess up his nails, demanding perfection.

"Ooh, does it really? Maybe I am." Raul replied with a smile, noticing Kurt look up- or rather down- from his reading for a half-second. He finished the last nail on his right hand and sighed, returning the brush to its bottle while he waited for his hand to dry. "Which girl in this place do you think is the best at painting nails?" He asked casually, trying not to smile.

He heard Kurt laugh and he relaxed before he realized he had been tense, swinging his legs in the air gently. "Well hey; I absolutely suck at painting my left hand!" He added honestly, rolling his eyes.

A soft knock came at the door and Kurt called for them to come in, not shifting his position. Raul watched with interest as Kitty walked part way into the room then stopped, staring with wide eyes at Raul.

"Are you painting you nails?" She asked in disbelief, glancing up at Kurt, who had folded his page and closed the book. Raul blinked at her for a moment and then lifted up his hand, showing his fine work to her.

"Mmhmm. Are you good at painting other people's nails? I need someone to do my left hand because I fail at it miserably." He said cheerfully, offering the bottle of nail polish to her. She looked at him as though he had sprouted several heads and turned on her heels, muttering an 'Oh my god!' as she left and closed the door behind her.

"Guess she's not that good, then." Raul continued with mock sadness, putting down the polish bottle. Kurt burst out laughing and flipped down from the light fixture, throwing his book onto his bed.

"That was so awesome!" He said as he walked over to Raul's bed.

"Now my Mum isn't around to paint my nails for me. Shit, this sucks to the max." Raul frowned at his nail polish bottle as though blaming it for all his problems.

Suddenly the door crashed open again and Rogue burst in, Kitty close behind her, looking flustered. "Are you seriously?!" She said as she went straight for Raul's bed. He blinked innocently up at her as she stared dumbfounded at him.

"Oh come on, Rogue you didn't have to go stomping in on them! I was ju-" Kitty was cut off as Rogue outright ignored her and continued talking.

"You actually lie on your bed and paint your nails?!" She asked, throwing her hands into the air dramatically. Raul grinned up at her and nodded, thrusting his hand up to show her.

"Yeah-huh. See?" He said with a grin, sitting up and crossing his legs. "But, I have a problem with painting my other hand, 'cause I'm left handed."

Rogue looked down at him, a sympathetic look forced onto her face. "Want me to try?" She asked, trying to keep her face straight.

"That would be great! I was just trying to bully Kurt into telling me which girl in this place is the best at it, but he refused to give up such valuable information."

Rogue nodded sincerely. "That's understandable." She said, crossing one arm beneath her breasts and resting her other elbow on it. "That's not something you can freely spread around, you know."

Kurt, who had been standing off to the side in rather shocked silence, now cleared his throat. "The torture he put me through was fierce, but I held my tongue, for I knew the consequences for such actions would be worse than anything he could do to me."

Rogue turned to him and nodded her satisfaction, touching her face as though in thought. "Well done." She told him after a moment.

Kitty watched them with an utterly confused look on her face. "What are you guys talking about?" She asked them, a slight hint of annoyance coating her words. She gave up before she got an answer, though, and ended up leaving with a sigh and a few mumbled words to herself. The instant the door clicked closed behind her the room burst into laughter, Rogue sitting on the bed beside Raul and taking his unpainted hand.

Carefully Rogue attempted to paint his nails, though she admitted that she had never painted someone else's before. Raul reassured her that if it sucked he'd just take it off anyways, so it was fine. It was the thought that counted, right?

At one point Kurt, who had joined them on the bed, had commented on how 'cute' they looked. Rogue had been very close to punching him in the face. Raul had only shaken his head.

"Hey, hey, I was just saying!" Kurt had cried as he leapt off the bed. Not long after that Rogue had announced that she had homework she still had to finish and she left, leaving the two boys alone.

Hopping off his bed, Raul strode over to the mirror for another appearance check. He heard Kurt scoff at him and he turned to stick his tongue out at the teen childishly. He was pleased at the job Rogue had done on his nails, the even shine on them made them look perfect enough to pass off as professional. He needed to get them fixed, though, so he made a mental note to e-mail his mum to get her to put some money in his bank account so he could get another manicure.

"I am such a faggot." He announced to the mirror, brushing his hair from his face only to have it shift back. Turning, he lifted a hand to Kurt and informed the blue mutant that he was going for a shower.

Making his way down the hall to the bathroom, Raul hoped with all his might that it was empty. Poking his head in, he found to his pleasure that it was. Putting down the vanilla shampoo he had brought from home, he closed and locked the door then began turning the taps and adjusting the water.

The shower was generally pleasant, and it didn't take long for Raul to finish up, dry off, and hop into his pajamas, which he had brought to the bathroom with him. He almost smacked straight into Kitty on his way back to Kurt's room, but luckily she saw him and walked through him with a straight face. Tossing his shampoo up and catching it as he reached for the doorknob, he heard something and stopped. Inside the room, he could very clearly hear Kurt quietly repeating the new mutant's name to himself. Raul smiled as he stood there for a moment, listening to Kurt get the pronunciation wrong several times in a row.

"You can call me Ray if you want." He said off-handedly as he opened the door and strode in, ignoring the deep flush that spread across Kurt's face. He watched Kurt nod as he threw back the covers and flopped down onto his bed, fluffing the pillow slightly before burying his face in it. Turning to Kurt, who had flicked up his tail to turn off the light, Raul sat in the dark for several minutes before speaking.

"Hey, Kurt?" He said slowly, waiting for a small grunt in reply before continuing. "I'm sorry about the comment at supper today, I didn't really mean it."

He heard Kurt shift slightly in his bed. "Yeah, I know. It's fine." The blue teen said warmly as he rolled over to face the wall. Raul watched as Kurt's tail wiggled its way out from under the covers and slid off the side of his bed, the very tip barely brushing against the carpet. Smiling, Raul closed his eyes and nuzzled down into the bed deeper, deciding again that he would fit in just fine here, even if it was still only the first day.


	3. School

**Disclaimer -** I no own X-men. But Raul is mine, thanks.

I'm super happy you guys like Raul, I was afraid everyone would be like "OMFG ur character sux 'cuz he's such a fag an he's so emo I hate him!"

I actually, seriously, didn't realize how 'emo' the design of him in my head was. Oops. Oh well. If I haven't mentioned already, this is my first fic starring a fan character. I usually hate original characters in fanfics.

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Raul was awake by the second beep of his alarm. Sitting up the instant the sound reached him, he snapped the 'off' on the digital clock that was beside him on the bed and stared at it while his eyes adjusted. Slipping his feet to the floor, he put the clock on the bedside stand that Kurt had put there for him. Raul checked to make sure Kurt was still asleep as he stretched. He would hate to wake Kurt up and six in the morning. He assumed that since Kurt could instantly get dressed by flicking his watch, he'd sleep in to the last _second_.

Running his fingers through his bangs with one hand, Raul rubbed the sleep from his emerald eye with the other. He allowed himself one more yawn, and then shook his head to rid it of the haze of sleep. He crouched down over his bag and unzipped it, staring at the top layer of clothes that hid beneath his toiletries. Today would be his first day at this school, so he'd want to make a good impression, but nothing too flamboyant, since he wanted to make a good impression. Oh, how he hated half-asleep thoughts. Shrugging to himself, he lifted up the edge of several folded clothing articles, sifting to somewhere near the bottom and tugging out a neat bundle of black mesh.

Pulling off his pajama shirt and horribly neglecting the buttons, Raul shook out the shirt and slid it on awkwardly over his head, re-adjusting the sleeves several times. Of course, it was convenient that the sleeves were tight on the upper arm but loosened considerably near his wrist. It made wearing shirts over the mesh much, much easier. Raul dug around in his bag for a moment and pulled out a straight black tee. Shaking it out and holding it in front of him, he came to the conclusion that it was good enough to wear.

Rising from the floor, he looked down at his pajama clad legs and crouched down again, fishing out a dark pair of blue-jeans without looking to see which pair it was. If he had packed it, it had to be a pair he liked. Tugging off his pajama pants and tossing them onto the matching shirt (which created a pile); Raul leapt into the pants and zipped them up.

After pulling on some socks he finally made his first trip to the mirror, noting that his slow act of putting on clothes had taken him a total of thirty-two minutes. Fetching his brush off the dresser he dragged it through his hair as he opened the door and wandered out into the hall. He paused for a moment while he figured out his destination, then turned and headed for Kitty and Rogue's room. When he got to their door he was pleased to hear scuffling inside. He knocked lightly and waited, smiling warmly at Kitty when she opened the door.

"Mornin'" He said sleepily, "You guys got a hair straightened I can use? 'Left mine at home." He indicated to his messy hair to emphasize his need for the appliance.

Kitty paused for a moment as though considering his request, her hand holding her ponytail up and the elastic snagged between her lips. The hand she held the door with had a brush in it, similar to the one he held.

"Yeah, just get in and close the door before someone walks by and sees me!" Rogue snapped from in front of the mirror on the dresser, identical to the one in Kurt's. Kitty moved for him and Raul welcomed himself into the room, running his brush through his hair again. Rogue indicated to a drawer, and he opened it, only having to shift the contents once before spotting the desired object. Tugging it out he plugged it in ad sat down beside the dresser, snatching a bottle of hair product from the stand and reading the back slowly. "Y'can use that if you want, it's mine." Rogue said from her spot in front of the mirror. Mumbling a thank you, Raul glanced at it once more before he squirted some of the cream onto his palm and smoothed it through his bangs.

Though Raul was somewhat a morning person, he was still male. Therefore he would never be able to wake up as fast as most girls could, like Kitty. Noticing the light on the straightened signaled it was hot he ran his brush through his hair once more before standing to share the mirror with Rogue. By the time he had finished his bangs and had wandered back to Kurt's room with a bathroom stop in between, the clock beside his bed read '7:16'.

Glancing at the mirror on the way by, Raul noticed his ultimate failure. The rest of his hair was still frazzled from sleep, even though it was cut short. Snatching hair gel off the dresser, which had been totally free of anything to do with appearance before he had come, he smoothed it through his short hair and ruffled it into fairly even spikes, repeating the ruffling several times before he was satisfied.

He let that dry as he fetched random accessories from his bag, a stud-less collar here, a few plain wristbands there. Raul worked with occasional long pauses in between his movements, though for the most part his progress was somewhat consistent. He almost forgot a belt, but managed to grab one before he turned back to the mirror. Today, he would go without studded everything, since he was wearing mesh. He didn't want to overdo it too much. Glancing at the clock again, he found a bright '7:23' staring back at him. Raul went to his bed and grabbed a different bag, one he had gotten for school, and shoved a book off his bedside stand into it. He'd get school supplies later, if he decided to stay. Glancing around the room one more time, Raul decided he had everything he needed from there. He saw Kurt shift in his bed as Raul left the room.

He ran straight into Evan as he walked out of the room, and Evan shoved him away playfully, telling him to watch where he's going. Raul apologized and walked down the hallway, his eyes widening slightly at the sudden line for the bathroom. He raised his hand by way of greeting as he walked past, watching several people stifling yawns.

Raul found the kitchen just as cramped, people refusing an organized breakfast and bustling about. He noticed a healthy couple of stacks of pancakes on the table and he took a seat beside Logan, who was blocking out the commotion and eating his breakfast. The gruff man turned to Raul as the boy helped himself, passing him the syrup. Raul nodded by way of greeting as he smothered his pancakes, noting the lack of anyone else actually _sitting down_ at the table, instead grabbing plates, piling them high with pancakes, and walking away to continue getting ready for the day.

He finished quickly and was just going back up the stairs to his room when Scott passed him going down, nudging him towards the way he had come and mumbling something about leaving. Raul stopped on the stairs and turned, then was almost trampled to death as half the academy charged down the narrow stairway, chattering and groaning sleepily amongst themselves.

Recovering, Raul hopped down the stairs and found Scott waiting outside the front doors in his car. Raul opened the door and was about to slip into the front seat when Kurt randomly appeared there, smoke swirling around him. Squeaking in surprise, Raul didn't put up a fight and closed the door, slipping into the back seat instead.

The drive to school was short enough, and Raul watched curiously as they pulled into the student parking lot, his gaze drifting from person to person. Everyone filed out of the car with Raul second last, his nervousness slowing him down slightly. Scott came up behind him and clamped a hand down on the boy's shoulder reassuringly, smiling warmly.

"Almost all the X-men go to school here too, right? So if you have any trouble we'll all be here for you." Raul was nudged foreword gently by the older, red-shade wearing teen, and he complied after taking a small sigh, breaking into a trot to catch up to Kurt.

Falling into step beside his friend, Raul sighed heavily and looked around again, pounding the thought into his head that this wasn't any different from his school, and if anything, unless he wanted too he'd only have to stay at the place for a week.

Kitty ended up splitting off from the others with him, deciding that since Kurt had to run for fast food, she'd take him to the office. She smiled warmly as she left him in front of the office door, waving momentarily before walking into a grinning boy. She squeaked something and his grin morphed into a smirk, the tall boy throwing his arm around her casually as he started down the hall beside her, then whining lightly as she pushed it away.

Just then the principle opened the door, ushering him in. Raul took a seat in front of the desk, watching the seemingly strict woman move around him to take her seat. She eyed him up and down thoughtfully.

"Raul Sedlak, the new student Xavier enrolled here? I'm your Principle, Mrs. Darkholme. I heard that you may not be staying with us for more than a week, which is slightly irritating. It's quite bothersome to have to make room in classes for someone only to have them leave again. I truly hope you stay." She drawled emotionlessly, her fingertips pressed together in front of her chest. Without giving him time to speak, Darkholme continued, "I've made a list of your classes, even in the short period I've known of your arrival. I truly hope that you will try your best here." -- A short pause -- "That is all, you may leave."

Raul blinked slowly and nodded, still absorbing the speech. He rose slowly and accepted the class list she was offering, examining it as he slung his bag over his shoulder again and pulled the door closed behind him. Raul sighed again as he looked up from the paper to find room numbers to orientate himself. He must have serious issues, with all this sighing to himself. It probably wasn't healthy.

The worst part of switching schools, and the only part the seventeen-year-old truly hated, was having to find his way around within a time limit in a place he'd never been before. He glanced around one more time before he spotted a familiar face, and he instantly started towards her.

"Jean! Have you got a… moment?" Raul started strong as he walked up beside the gorgeous red-haired girl, but his words slowed and withered as he took note of the very incredibly more-violent-than-necessary glare he was receiving from the thickly built blonde boy she was talking to. He snapped his mouth shut instantly as he shied under the jock's glare. Taking a step away and leaning against the wall patiently, Raul heard Jean said something to him about being done in a minute, and he held the strap to his bag in a grip he didn't realize was tight and waited.

"See you later, Duncan!" Jean chirped cheerfully a handful of moments later, turning to see what it was that Raul needed. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off before she started by the loud bell that signaled the beginning of class. When the sound stopped she waited a half second before opening her mouth again. "Don't mind Duncan, Raul. He's not that bad of a guy." She said to comfort him. Raul realized how shaken he must have looked and he instantly let go of his bag and lifted his paper to her helplessly. Jean laughed lightly and took the paper, reading it carefully.

"Sorry to bother you about this, you're probably going to be late now, too." He said quietly as she scanned over the paper. She raised her emerald eyes to his and the corners of her lips curled upward slightly in a smile.

"Don't worry about it. Here, you're first class is over here." She led him down a hall and he followed obediently, trying to memorize not only room numbers but also general landmarks he could use to get there. It wasn't all that far from the main doors, though, so Raul doubted he would have trouble with this class.

Raul thanked her graciously as he put his hand on the door handle, then a random thought of Kurt flashed through his head. "Oh hey, and, Jean?" He called softly as she turned to walk away. The older girl looked back at him questioningly. "You can call me Ray."

Turning back to the door, Raul sighed lightly as he opened the door. His heart leapt a beat as his eyes stopped their sweep of the room and locked onto a head of blue hair that was talking quietly with an equally familiar swishing brown ponytail. He felt a heavy hand clamp down on his shoulder and he snapped his eyes up to the warm eyes of his teacher, who ushered him into the class welcomingly.

"You must be Raul. Here, come in and take a seat." He said with a large smile, shooing Raul towards the desks.

"I prefer to be called Ray." Raul lied through his teeth, masking his face with a shy smile as he slipped into a seat beside Kurt.

"Alright, Ray. Welcome to my classroom, I'm Mr. McCoy."

It didn't take long for the classroom to settle back down, and Raul found that he liked this teacher quite a bit. He hoped that the rest of his teachers were this absurdly awesome. At one point, nearly halfway through the class, the tall brunette Kitty had walked into earlier that day came in, nodding to the teacher as he made his way to the table Raul, Kitty, and Kurt occupied.

"Hey Lance!" Kitty said softly as he took a seat beside her, across the table from Raul. Lance said something quietly to Kitty before absently turning his eyes on Raul, whom he stared at for several moments.

"Who's this kid?" The boy said, raising an eyebrow at Raul. Kitty introduced them quietly, and Raul learned that this 'Lance Alvers' was also a mutant. Lance could cause earthquakes. He also learned through hushed whispers that Lance was part of a small gang of mutants called the 'Brotherhood', who were petty rivals of the X-men.

It wasn't long before the bell went, and Raul realized he hadn't paid attention to anything the teacher had been talking about. On his way past the thickly set man, Raul heard his say, "Oh, and Ray; I do hope you'll pay attention more tomorrow, since I let you off today for introductions and fitting in."

Raul nodded respectfully to Mr. McCoy as he left the room, glancing at his class list again and snagging Kurt so he could show him where it was located, but found that Kurt had already wandered away on him. Sighing and reminding himself that he sighed way too much, Raul checked the room number atop the door of his Science class and then looked down at the list, figuring out which way he should head down the hallway. The layout of this school couldn't be too hard, could it? Raul scuffed his feet forward and started walking, watching the room numbers carefully. He wandered almost full circuit around the lower level of the school before he turned up a set of stairs to the upper floor. He knew he was already horrifically late, but finding the classroom was more important than attending it, he decided.

Not watching where he was going, Raul walked straight into a large object as he read over his list, noting that it was human by the grunting noise it made. Dropping his list and his bag, Raul backed up several steps and began to apologize when he realized who he had stumbled into.

The tall blonde -- what had Jean said his name was, Duncan? -- cracked his knuckles threateningly. Raul flicked his gaze around to find an escape route and was surprised to see that the rest of the jock's gang were already picking on someone. The small, lanky boy they held pinned against the wall looked absolutely terrified, his dark teeth bared in a nervous smile and his legs kicking slightly.

"Aww, poor Toadie, What's wrong?" The one who pinned him to the wall cooed. He brought the greasy boy off the wall so he could smash him against it again, wringing a pitiful squeal from the light-haired brunette.

"You're the little faggy-boy that Jean was talking to earlier, aren't you?" Duncan asked rather dangerously, taking a step forward. "Hey guys, put that trash down, I think I have someone even more fun that we can play with."

Raul watched with wide, mismatched eyes as they dropped the thin boy and he fell into a crouch, squeaking and _hopping_ away most likely as fast as his legs could carry him.

"What's your name, little faggy?" One of the jocks behind Duncan asked, a deadly smirk slipping across his face. Not answering, Raul backed up a little more, but was stopped dead when Duncan lashed forward and pushed him into the wall hard, the small cry wrenched out of Raul by the sudden crushing feeling of something smashing against his skull.


	4. Sparta?

I just thought I'd… You know, let you get a little deeper into my mind-plot before I stop working on this forever, LOL. And I realized how mean of me it was to leave off where I did… I'm kind of amazed I didn't get knifed for it, actually.  
I know, I suck. And this is also shorter than I've been requiring of these chapters. Which makes me really sad, but I'm so damn stuck that I'll go with anything.

Please review.

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Raul felt himself hit the floor, but he remained thoroughly dazed until he noticed the warm stickiness oozing over his upper lip. Horror suddenly struck him, thrashing its way up his spine and making his veins freeze. Snapping his blurred eyes open, the panicked boy whipped a hand to cover his face, snatching at the strap to his bag and almost falling in his frantic rush. The sound of confusion followed him towards the washroom, and he hoped with all his might that he his blood hadn't made contact with any of them or their clothes. Or his clothes, for that matter. Or the floor.

Skidding into the boy's washroom, Raul forced his aching body to move faster, hissing at the droplets of blood that had started dripping from his hand. He yanked up the faucet at the first sink he reached, running the water over his hands desperately. Blinking, Raul managed to gain most of his sight back only to realize that he wasn't alone in the washroom. Swearing to himself, he cupped his hands and watched blood drip into the water that pooled there. Raising it to his face he allowed the blood to dissolve away the water, thus dissolving itself in the process. He repeated this several times before he was satisfied his body's healing had taken care of it, then lifted his head to meet the eyes of the wreck that stared back through the mirror. His hair was an absolute mess, and his eyes were bloodshot. Other than that though, all signs of the beating he had received had disappeared.

"Whoa." He heard off to his left, and he turned to face the source of the sound, leaning on the counter to keep himself from shaking. Crouching on top of the counter beyond the next sink over was the small, greasy boy from before, his eyes wide as he leaned slightly towards Raul. "How'd ya do that, yo?"

Raul blinked then turned away quickly, hurriedly checking his clothes for holes burnt through them. "I don't know what you're talking about." He was pleased to find that none had appeared.

"Whoa!" He heard the frog-like boy exclaim again, and he shifted his eyes over to realize that the boy was examining a splatter-pattern of holes burned deep into the counter in from of the sink he had been using. "That means that you're one too, hey? Man, the way that gash healed was pretty sweet." He continued, poking at the designs with a cautious fingertip.

Raul narrowed his eyes, but couldn't think of anything to say. Rubbing his face with his hands, he let himself sigh.

"Don't worry dawg. I'm like that too." Raul dropped his hands from his face and watched as the scrawny boy tilted his head back and a long, dark green-ish solid streak shot from his mouth, seemed to touch an invisible wall in mid-air, then retreated back. "Six-foot prehensile tongue, yo." He said proudly, and Raul instantly relaxed. He let his eyes meet the other boy's yellowy-green ones.

"The name's Raul Sedlak. You?" Raul asked, stepping back to the counter beside the boy and trying to work his hair back to the perfection it had held before he had gone through the lengthy beating.

"Todd Tolansky, the Toad. Part of the Brotherhood, who you'd be smart to avoid."

"Oh. Is that the gang-thing that the Lance Alvers guy is in?" He asked as he cracked his knuckles absently, the light pops sounding surprisingly less intimidating than Duncan's had.

'Ya know Lance? Yeah. He's kinda like the leader of our group, yo." Todd flashed him a yellow grin and hopped to the floor, and Raul was glad the frog-boy hadn't seen the involuntary shudder of disgust the expression had caused.

"Kitty introduced me to him." He replied as he managed to flatten his bangs to the point that they looked barely presentable. Todd stood from his crouch beside him, and Raul realized how shockingly short he was. The brunette chuckled lightly.

"Oooh, so you know his pretty little Kitty. That must mean you're part of those X-Geeks, hey?"

Raul nodded to the mirror, then touched the corner of his right eye out of habit, examining the gold that lined his pupil and flecked out into the midst of the green. He felt general fondness towards the eye despite his utter hatred for it, and the horror it had caused him.

"Thanks for savin' me back there, yo. Sorry you had to, y'know, get hurt an' all."

"Apparently the jocks here don't like pretty boys." Raul said softly as he turned and shouldered his bag, mentally kicking himself in the face for losing his class list. "It was nice meeting you, Todd. I'll see you around."

Raul was just leaving the washroom when the bell for lunch rang, and he swore inwardly again. He had missed his second class completely, and that most likely wouldn't go over well with his teacher. Just as the sound stopped he saw Rogue emerge amongst the rush of people coming out of the library across from the washroom, and he weaved his way around people to fall in beside her.

Rogue managed to not comment on his appearance, which he was glad for. Either she managed to not comment, or it wasn't as bad as he thought it was, but he stuck with the first. They broke off from the main crown and headed to the hallway that was home to Rogue's locker, which was where he could see Kurt and Evan messing around laughing.

The group sat around chatting for several minutes before all of them headed off towards the cafeteria, where Raul noted that Scott already had a table secured. He found himself standing a bit away from the others, but he didn't mind, since he didn't like being in tight groups much. Suddenly he was shoved from behind and he whipped around, his heart leaping to his throat as Duncan cracked his knuckles in front of him. They just wouldn't leave him alone, would they?

"Hey faggy." Duncan said coldly, and Raul felt his heart, which was currently still lodged in his throat, turn to solid stone and begin it's slow descent to the very bottom of his stomach, where it sat in a very noticeable lump.

"Duncan!" He heard a voice he could link to Jean say from behind the thick blonde, and Duncan instantly dropped his hands to his pockets.

"Heya Jean! I was just sa-" He said as he turned to face her, but he cut off at the glare she was giving him.

"Don't you 'Hey Jean!' me! If I hear one word about you causing trouble for Raul, I'll be sure that you get a chance to see me angry." Jean threatened, her hands on her hips and her eyes glowing dangerously. Duncan tried to mutter something by way of apology, but she sent him away and he shuffled off to the table where all his football buddies were eating.

Raul smiled at her weakly, and hoped that his heart would turn back from stone so that it could beat and supply his body's cells with oxygen. "Thanks Jean." He said just as weakly.

"Was he giving you trouble?" She asked him kindly, and Raul laughed nervously.

"He and his buddies beat me half to death earlier, and I managed to lose my class list and miss my second class completely." He confessed awkwardly, averting his eyes and staring at the back of a random girl's head.

Jean made a small sound, and he could almost feel the rage radiating off of her. "I am so going to give him a talking to later." She said as she took her seat beside Scott, who raised an eyebrow at her.

Raul flopped into the chair between Kurt and Rogue he assumed Kurt had saved for him, closing his eyes and ignoring all the thoughts of food his stomach was requesting.

Musing absently, the mutant was thankful that his body was fast to take care of injuries and that he rarely got sore. Even then, when he did on the rare occasion, it wasn't for longer than a day at most, and he had never once woken up in pain.

A loud crash across the room caused the boy's eyelids to flutter open; his body in turn agreeing that sitting up would be the best following course of action. Across the room a large boy had thrown a table to the side, his face twisted in fury and a platter of food splattered across his chest. Raul watched with wide eyes as the huge blonde ripped a chair up off the floor and threw it at the offending group of teenagers, the shocked innocents caught in the wave of anger leaping to hide under tables and dive out of the way.

Suddenly the huge blonde was pelted in the back of the head with a glob off food, and his face reddened more in response. Scooping up an entire platter's worth of food off a table, the boy flung it in the general direction that the glob had come from, and ended up hitting a preppy looking girl square in the face. The boy sitting beside her, dressed in a now not-so-new looking red sweater, leapt up on to the table.

"FOOD FIIIGHHT!!" He cried at the top of his lungs, whipping a full platter Frisbee-style and leaping behind the table in the same motion to avoid the wave of food that rained off it.

Raul made a sound resembling a shriek as a food platter landed food-down on the X-Table, his swift falling-out-of-his-chair-backwards skills saving him from the mess that resulted. Rolling away from the downed chair, Raul made another sound of surprise as Kurt, who had somehow managed to end up crouching beside him, got a full pitcher of the Strawberry Kiwi juice the next table over had been drinking dumped over his head. Kurt shrieked something in German and sprawled backwards, shaking his head dramatically and letting out a rather long stream of foreign words Raul assumed resembled 'fuck', 'damn', 'bitch' and several other English words commonly used by teenagers. The attacker,- a girl with a too-big grin, freckles, and blonde braided pigtails,- flashed a toothy grin at Kurt, blushed a bright red, and scampered away as though she hadn't just smashed the blue-haired boy's entire emotional being completely to bits.

"Man down!" Scott cried playfully as he rolled warrior style and straightened in a defensive crouch in front of Kurt.

'This is madness!" Rogue said from where she sat crouched behind the feeble leg of their table.

The slightly shaken mutant rubbed the juice from his eyes and heaved himself to his feet, planting a hand heavily on Scott's shoulder and acting as though gravely wounded. Lifting his head high, Kurt raised a clenched fist into the air dramatically.

"THIS… IS… SPAARRTTAAA!!" The German cried in a surprisingly epic voice, pounding his fist on his chest.

Laughing lightly, Raul ducked as a glob of something that looked like it had once been spaghetti whirled past his head. His laughter grew much louder, though, when Kurt (who was still in a rather triumphant pose) was hit in the face by a well-thrown glob of food. Wiping the whatever-it-was out of his eyes, Kurt hissed something furiously and trudged towards the cafeteria doors that led outside, his movie-inspired lust for battle dampened considerably.

Rising to his feet, Raul decided to follow the miserable-looking German, slightly saddened by the way Kurt walked without care towards the food flying around him. Somehow managing to continue avoiding being hit by the once-edible projectiles, the pale boy slipped out the door and found himself instantly bombarded by pelting rain.

"Verflucht noch mal…" Kurt sighed as Raul walked out to stand beside him. "Now my fur is wet, full of food and sticking together everywhere…"

"'Port back to the Institute and take a quick shower?" Raul offered, stuffing his hands into his pockets. This rain was taking the straightening out of his bangs, and Raul swore he could feel the gel mixing with the rain and dribbling down the back of his neck. At that very moment in time, he was sure he was utterly miserable. Though, for no reason he could think of, he felt like grinning and twirling in the rain like an idiot. Raul had always disliked getting wet.

"I'll be late for class if I do…" The furry mutant said, examining himself and looking incredibly strange because of his image inducer.

"It's either that or go for the rest of the day with bits of gross shit clumping your fur together, though." Raul replied, scuffing his foot at the wet grass.

"I guess you're right…" Kurt said again, flashing him a tiny smile. Looking around, Kurt back against the wall and upon deciding that no one was around disappeared in a small puff of sulfurous smoke.

Shaking the water from his hair, Raul decided to walk around the school and re-enter through the front doors, still slightly afraid of the chaos of the food fight. His hands were still shoved in his pockets, he realized as he lifted his arm to shield his eyes from the rain. Walking with his head down, Raul wondered faintly where the other X-men had gotten to, then he shifted off to assume that they had probably fled into the halls rather than outside into the torrential downpour.


End file.
